Last A&M Records Mono 45 single

AM Matt

Forum Undertaker
Is Stealers Wheel "Stuck In The Middle With You" (from 1972) the last MONO 45 single on A&M Records on the tan label??
 
Not sure, but I recall some 'same song' white label promo singles from 1973-74 with the mono version of the song on one side and the stereo on the other. A white label mono promo of Gino Vannelli's CRAZY LIFE came out that year as "MP-4395."

JB
 
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Well, that single, 1416, was on an ochre label, and it was mono, but I think this one below, at least has that beat. It's Herb's "Last Tango In Paris" as 1420, also mono.

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Not sure, but I recall some 'same song' white label promo singles from 1973-74 with the mono version of the song on one side and the stereo on the other. A white label mono promo of Gino Vannelli's CRAZY LIFE came out that year as "MP-4395."

JB
Those white promo labels with stereo on one side and a mono mix on the other were being issued up to at least March 2, 1982 when the Carpenters Beechwood 4-5789 was released to radio.
 
1570913966146.png

Well, that single, 1416, was on an ochre label, and it was mono, but I think this one below, at least has that beat. It's Herb's "Last Tango In Paris" as 1420, also mono.

1570914080139.png
I had this exact single and it sounded very good even with the extra compression and in dedicated mono the flip side Fire and rain to me was even equally as awesome thankfully I committed my singles to tape long ago and later to CDR and today they are ripped into my laptop sadly I lost my singles long ago I know it's not quite the same thing but at least the music is still in my collection in some form
 
Those white promo labels with stereo on one side and a mono mix on the other were being issued up to at least March 2, 1982 when the Carpenters Beechwood 4-5789 was released to radio.
Hi Tom - I have all the promo 45s - the last white label (at least for the Carpenters) was I Believe You - by the time Touch Me When We're Dancing was released, the promos were on the red A&M label - the final Carpenters promo 45, Honolulu City Lights, was issued on the pink Memories label
 
Hi Tom - I have all the promo 45s - the last white label (at least for the Carpenters) was I Believe You - by the time Touch Me When We're Dancing was released, the promos were on the red A&M label - the final Carpenters promo 45, Honolulu City Lights, was issued on the pink Memories label

I’ve got Richard’s solo single “Something In Your Eyes” on the white label (80’s A&M logo) but it’s stereo on both sides with SIYE on both sides, while the promo version of “Calling Your Name Again/In Love Alone” uses the black late-80’s label. I also have promo issue by an artist called “Johnny R.” From 1986 that uses a white label. I also have “Touch Me When We’re Dancing” promo with a white label (stereo industry one side/mono on the other), however that is a test pressing.

But if you look at the original discussion it was about when the last stereo/mono promo 45’s were made by A&M. From the discussions, for most A&M acts it was in the late-70’s, but the Carpenters seemed to hang on till 1982. And in my case I have a test pressing of one from 1981.
 
I’ve got Richard’s solo single “Something In Your Eyes” on the white label (80’s A&M logo) but it’s stereo on both sides with SIYE on both sides, while the promo version of “Calling Your Name Again/In Love Alone” uses the black late-80’s label. I also have promo issue by an artist called “Johnny R.” From 1986 that uses a white label. I also have “Touch Me When We’re Dancing” promo with a white label (stereo industry one side/mono on the other), however that is a test pressing.

But if you look at the original discussion it was about when the last stereo/mono promo 45’s were made by A&M. From the discussions, for most A&M acts it was in the late-70’s, but the Carpenters seemed to hang on till 1982. And in my case I have a test pressing of one from 1981.
yes, I have a test pressing of Those Good Old Dreams on a plain white label - but all the Carpenters promo 45s (from Touch Me When We're Dancing (1981) through the four-track promo for the Yesterday Once More LP in 1985) that were sent to radio stations were all on red labels - Honolulu City Lights promo in 1986 was on the pink Memories label - Richard's 1987 promo single Something in Your Eyes (stereo on both sides) had some silver and gold on the label, so it's not really a plain white label like the Carpenters had from Ticket to Ride to I Believe You - I also have his promo single for Calling Your Name Again/Time, and it is also primarily white with gold and silver on it - the commercial copy of Something in Your Eyes/Time had a black label with the gold and silver accents. My point is that the plain white label style for the Carpenters promo 45s remained the same from Ticket to Ride through I Believe You, and then by the time Touch Me When We're Dancing was released in 1981 it had changed to the red label.
 
yes, I have a test pressing of Those Good Old Dreams on a plain white label - but all the Carpenters promo 45s (from Touch Me When We're Dancing (1981) through the four-track promo for the Yesterday Once More LP in 1985) that were sent to radio stations were all on red labels - Honolulu City Lights promo in 1986 was on the pink Memories label - Richard's 1987 promo single Something in Your Eyes (stereo on both sides) had some silver and gold on the label, so it's not really a plain white label like the Carpenters had from Ticket to Ride to I Believe You - I also have his promo single for Calling Your Name Again/Time, and it is also primarily white with gold and silver on it - the commercial copy of Something in Your Eyes/Time had a black label with the gold and silver accents. My point is that the plain white label style for the Carpenters promo 45s remained the same from Ticket to Ride through I Believe You, and then by the time Touch Me When We're Dancing was released in 1981 it had changed to the red label.
Sorry I’ll have to disagree with you with the 70’s white labels. The few I have (including the scarce Canadian stereo/mono version of “Calling Occupants) tend to have the “A&M” in the logo in red and on the mono side a giant red “A”, so the 80’s versions having some black and gold I would count as being in the same line as the 70’s when it comes to white labels. (I also have a promo 70’s white label of “Druscilla Penny” from South America that used gold for the “Promo Do Not Sell” printing) Clearly they were meant to, possible at the production plant, differentiate what was to be sent to radio stations/DJ’s versus to stores, whereas the commercial labels being used with just “Promo” printed on them in the 80’s may’ve been a cost cutting measure, but they found too many promos were being sent to stores because the factory workers weren’t looking close enough (I’ve got a promo copy of “Make Believe” that’s in the commercial sleeve. Nothing’s printed on the sleeve saying it’s a promo disc, but the disc itself says promo, and it’s the same song in stereo on both sides).
 
If we're talking about mono "promo" singles, I can state that the last one in my Herb Alpert collection that has a stereo/mono configuration is 1982's "Route 101". After that, A&M seemed to issue promos with either the same stereo on both sides, or with a stereo edit or special mix on one side and the full track on the other.
 
Sorry I’ll have to disagree with you with the 70’s white labels. The few I have (including the scarce Canadian stereo/mono version of “Calling Occupants) tend to have the “A&M” in the logo in red and on the mono side a giant red “A”, so the 80’s versions having some black and gold I would count as being in the same line as the 70’s when it comes to white labels. (I also have a promo 70’s white label of “Druscilla Penny” from South America that used gold for the “Promo Do Not Sell” printing) Clearly they were meant to, possible at the production plant, differentiate what was to be sent to radio stations/DJ’s versus to stores, whereas the commercial labels being used with just “Promo” printed on them in the 80’s may’ve been a cost cutting measure, but they found too many promos were being sent to stores because the factory workers weren’t looking close enough (I’ve got a promo copy of “Make Believe” that’s in the commercial sleeve. Nothing’s printed on the sleeve saying it’s a promo disc, but the disc itself says promo, and it’s the same song in stereo on both sides).
I have all of them, from Ticket to Ride to Honolulu City Lights, multiple copies of each, for instance six of Superstar - yes, you are correct that the mono was in black and the stereo was in red - I am just saying that the style of the Carpenters promos labels from Ticket to I Believe You was the same, and then by 1981 the (primarily) white labels no longer and they were red - can you just agree with me on that?
 
I have all of them, from Ticket to Ride to Honolulu City Lights, multiple copies of each, for instance six of Superstar - yes, you are correct that the mono was in black and the stereo was in red - I am just saying that the style of the Carpenters promos labels from Ticket to I Believe You was the same, and then by 1981 the (primarily) white labels no longer and they were red - can you just agree with me on that?
Sorry, I’ll still have to disagree. As for the red letter, that giant red “A” is on the mono side—-why???

As you said, you have a white label promo, whereas when I look at my copy it is a standard commercial pressing but it has had a sticker applied to it stating that it is for promotional use by DJ’s and radio and it was not for resale. So in my case, did A&M’s Australia branch run out of white promo copies and they just used a standard commercial pressing for a radio station or DJ, hence the Promo sticker.
 
You are not listening to what I am trying to tell you - maybe I am not being clear - in the US, the Carpenters 45 promos were white labels from Ticket to Ride to I Believe You - and then by the time Touch Me When We're Dancing came out in 1981, they were on the red labels - I am not talking about promos from Canada or Japan, or test pressings, or Richard's promo 45s - I have all of those as well - just referring the US releases of 45 promos of the Carpenters, not Richard
 
As for the red letter, that giant red “A” is on the mono side—-why???

I finally found a copy of the Canadian promo single of "Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft". Yes, the big red "A" is on the mono side and not the stereo side, indicating that the record company had produced this single for AM stations and any FM stations that were still only sending out mono signals.

CallOccCanadaMono.jpgCallOccCanadaStereo.jpg

It's also interesting that Canada hadn't switched to the newer style of label yet according to this. My domestic (US) copies of "Occupant" look like this:

CallingOccSingles.jpg

I can also now conclusively state that the mono version of "Calling Occupants" is indeed a fold-down from the stereo single edit. The fact that Karen's centered vocal sounds louder on the mono is a function of the way that stereo sounds when it collapses to mono. Anything centered gets boosted by about 6 db.

The mono promo single that I now have runs a little faster than the single edit that appears on THE COMPLETE SINGLES set from public TV. I had to speed up the CD version by about .75% (not quite 1%) in order to match the 45 I just received. (Yes, my turntable is running at the proper speed.)

The slight speedup may have been an attempt to cram the whole thing in in under 4 minutes. The labels on these singles all state 3:59. The Canadian single runs about 4:01 if you go to the full faded end. The COMPLETE SINGLES version goes to about 4:06 or so.
 
I read on another thread that there are no Stereo promo copies or copies at all of Ticket To Ride? And no mono copies of Close To You? How about promo mono copies of Merry Christmas Darling/ Mr. Guder? Mine all say stereo. Also had anyone ever seen an actual copy of the single We’ve Only Just Begun with Maybe It’s You as the b side like some of the picture sleeves show. Thanks for any input, and or corrections.
 
I read on another thread that there are no Stereo promo copies or copies at all of Ticket To Ride? And no mono copies of Close To You? How about promo mono copies of Merry Christmas Darling/ Mr. Guder? Mine all say stereo. Also had anyone ever seen an actual copy of the single We’ve Only Just Begun with Maybe It’s You as the b side like some of the picture sleeves show. Thanks for any input, and or corrections.
Maybe in Japan, as “Ticket” was released commercially on 45 in stereo.

As for MCD & MG, the single was processed with the Haeco system. That system was designed to be compatible with both mono and stereo radio. It was used on a few other promos in the US (like the “Calling Occupants”) but other countries like Canada (possible due to a CRTC ruling that outlawed the Haeco system) got seperate stereo/mono versions.
 
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Maybe in Japan, as “Ticket” was released commercially on 45 in stereo.

As for MCD & MG, the single was processed with the Haeco system. That system was designed to be compatible with both mono and stereo radio. It was used on a few other promos in the US (like the “Calling Occupants”) but other countries like Canada (possible due to a CRTC ruling that outlawed the Haeco system) got seperate stereo/mono versions.

Big issue. Haeco/CSG solved no real problems. Such records still had to be played on Stereo cartridges with vertical compliance. And had to be tracked at light forces (no heavier than 4 grams usually), otherwise, they got destroyed. Also, not phase coherent. Lots of older equipment then in use in broadcast plants (and mono equipment still in use even on some FM stations).
 
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